In recent years, there has been an increase in sensitivity toward physically handicapped persons who are wheelchair bound. As a result, there has been a widespread (albeit inadequate) improvement in the availability of facilities and features built into the public and private infrastructures which have contributed to the ability of wheelchair bound persons to enter a living in accordance with their mental talents and abilities and to simply interface more easily with the public as a whole in the work place and in general social intercourse. Nonetheless, a wheelchair bound person understands that he or she has special needs which simply do not occur to most ambulatory persons. One problem, notorious among wheelchair bound persons, is that of assuming a safe and comfortable resting position when there is no assistant at hand.
Consider, for example, the rather commonplace occasion in which a handicapped person is not feeling well and would like to recline into a position approaching the supine (or at least a position similar to that which can be assumed in a "recliner" chair). The handicapped person may have been at home or may have returned home from work or other outside activity; but, in any event, there is no assistant at the moment to lift the persom from the wheelchair and into bed or into a reclining chair. What is the handicapped person to do? He or she can only remain in the wheelchair and wait until an assistant does arrive. As wheelchair bound persons are most painfully aware, "dozing" in a wheelchair is difficult and uncomfortable and could even be dangerous for those who have limited neck strength.
We have directly addressed this problem, which is ubiquitous in the lives of wheelchair bound persons, and it is to its solution that our invention is directed. We have determined that certain therapeutic benefits also arise from the use of our invention. Among these therapeutic benefits are: improved circulation of blood in the legs and feet, relief of pressure on the thighs and buttocks, relief of pressure on the spine caused by sitting for many hours upright in a wheelchair, greater freedom to rest and nap at will and a distinct enhancement of the feeling and attitude of "independent living".